A Divorce He Regrets

Chapter 14:

“What…?” My voice came out broken, barely a whisper. “What’s wrong with him?”

Alexander’s voice was a cold hiss in my ear. “You want to know what’s wrong with him? You. You’re what’s wrong. If you hadn’t disappeared, maybe he wouldn’t be lying here like this.”

His words were like a slap, stinging, cutting deep.

I felt anger rise up within me, hot and fierce, pushing through the sorrow and heartbreak. How dare he.

“I am the reason? You’re the one who took him from me!” My voice shook, and I took a step back, my hands balling into fists. “You’re the one who deprived me of being his mother—of knowing him, of loving him. And now you want to stand there and act like I’m at fault?”

He scoffed, crossing his arms. “Spare me the theatrics, Raina. If you really wanted to be there for him, you wouldn’t have run off to God-knows-where with your…” He paused, his expression hardening, “…lover.”

I flinched, the accusation hitting harder than I’d expected. I wanted to scream, to tell him the truth, to make him understand. But I knew it would be useless; he’d already made up his mind. The man standing before me was nothing like the one I’d once loved. This man was bitter, cold, a stranger.

“So, what is it you want from me?” I demanded, my voice breaking despite my best efforts.

He looked at me, his expression hard and unyielding. “I want you to do what you should have done years ago. Perform your motherly duty.” He stepped closer, his eyes dark and filled with contempt. “Donate your marrow to save him.” His words were a command, harsh and unfeeling, and I felt the weight of it—the demand pressing down on me. But even more than the demand was the sheer arrogance of it, the expectation that I would simply comply without question. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Every word felt like a slap, a reminder of just how little he thought of me. It was almost enough to break me—almost.

I straightened, locking eyes with him, my voice steady and unwavering. “You have no right to ask me to fulfill any ‘duties’ now,” I said, each word a knife honed with years of pain. “You’re the one who took them from me. So don’t you dare stand there and accuse me of failing my son.”

I gripped the edge of the bed as I fought the overwhelming urge to lash out. How dare he stand here and cast judgment, as if he hadn’t been the one to cast me aside so easily? I turned toward him, my expression neutral, but inside I was anything but calm.

“You wanted to keep me out of his life,” I said quietly, watching the flicker of something in his eyes—surprise, maybe even guilt. “You were the one who made sure I was gone, Alexander.”

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He stiffened, the façade cracking for a brief moment. But I didn’t wait for his reply. I couldn’t bear any more of his arrogance or that look of disdain that always seemed to follow me like a shadow.

As I looked at my son, feeling the pang of longing, the years of absence, and the helplessness, one thought crystallized in my mind, sharp and clear as glass: What right did he have to ask me to fulfill motherly duties when he was the one who stripped them from me?

ALEXANDERnoveldrama

I loosened my tie the second I crossed the threshold of my home, tension knotted so deeply in my shoulders it felt like a band threatening to snap. I’d finally closed the deal with the Grahams. It was a victory I’d been working toward for years, and yet, standing here, it was the last thing I wanted to celebrate. No, that triumph was hollow now, muted by the sight of her—Raina. The way she looked at me, daring me to challenge her, defy her. She had the audacity to show up so casually, like she hadn’t abandoned everything, like she hadn’t walked out on our son.

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